A boom in Tel Aviv

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11/21/2012 @ 8:09 pm
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I jumped, startled and scared. How did that happen? There was no siren alerting of an incoming missile from Gaza. BOOM! What I heard turned out to be a missile destroying an apartment building in Rishon LeZion, just one city away from where I live.

No siren, but the whole street eight floors below was at a standstill. Cars stopped, people ran all around. Police cars and ambulances tried to advance to a point beyond my field of vision.

Suddenly, it hit me. This time was different. I went to another window in the office followed by workers on my floor and saw what had happened. The BOOM! came from down the street. A bus exploded not three buildings from me, on a busy Tel Aviv street; 21 people were injured. Mayhem all around. The police ordered bystanders to stay away for fear of another bomb, as per past experience. Only this time it wasn’t a suicide bomber, and the terrorist was still at large – perhaps hiding in our building or in the offices nearby.

Meanwhile, ambulances took the injured to the hospital, two minutes away. People still lurked nearby, as the cleaning crew washed the blood, removed the broken glass and returned the street to normal.

Normal, except for the bomb exploding.

This scenario was not taken from a Hollywood picture. It is exactly what had happened to me the morning of Nov. 21. And yet, my experience is nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of Israelis suffering daily from missiles launched from Gaza.

Just 50 minutes away from me – and a different world. Two worlds, collided, when Israel finally decided – NO MORE!